In 1980s East Germany, Berlin doctor Barbara is banished to a country medical clinic for applying for an exit visa. Deeply unhappy with her reassignment and fearful of her co-workers as possible Stasi informants, Barbara stays aloof, especially from the good-natured clinic head, Andre.
Acting
Nina Hoss's face does what scripts fear to write.
Direction
Petzold makes a bike ride feel like a prison break.
Cinematography
Every frame is a cage with pretty bars.
Director
Christian Petzold
Nina Hoss
Barbara
Ronald Zehrfeld
André
Rainer Bock
Klaus Schütz
Christina Hecke
Assistenzärztin Schulze
Claudia Geisler-Bading
Stationsschwester Schlösser
Peter Weiss
Medizinstudent
Rosa Enskat
Hausmeisterin Bungert
Jasna Fritzi Bauer
Stella
Peer-Uwe Teska
Kellner im Ausflugslokal
Elisabeth Lehmann
Junge Kellnerin
Mark Waschke
Jörg
Peter Benedict
Gerhard
Thomas Neumann
Rentner am Auto
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Petzold and Hoss are frequent collaborators—this was their fourth film together, establishing one of German cinema's most electrically restrained partnerships.
The 'Republikflucht' (desertion from the republic) affected 3.5 million East Germans; Barbara's impossible choice mirrors countless real lives destroyed by the Stasi's Zersetzung psychological warfare tactics.
DE
